Children’s toys and books become objects of ritual when they are imbued with conscious and unconscious meaning based in cultural constructs of gender and power. Heavy and fragile are the underlying presence and psychological consequence of the menacing cultural narratives intrinsic in everyday objects; banality is easily transcended by over-sizing, but power is also trivialized. Guns, jet planes, and rocket cars hide violence beneath their glazed surfaces.

Fantasies of power are closely linked to gender identities, which are formed in adolescence. The toys that seem to reflect the innocence and freedom of childhood are embedded with weighty social contracts dictating gender roles. Here the objects are incorporated with the menacing presence of the atomic symbol as an investigation within American pop culture to show the disparity between our idealized dreams and our physical realities.

(Los Angeles) – The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and Juxtapoz magazine are pleased to present 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz, a group exhibition to commemorate two decades of the magazine’s influential contribution to contemporary art and culture. On view at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, and curated by Andrew Hosner of Thinkspace Gallery and Gary Pressman of Copro Gallery, the exhibition features close to one hundred artists who have graced the publication’s pages and website, and showcases the diversity and breadth of the New Contemporary movement Juxtapoz has championed and helped to uphold.

In 1994 in San Francisco, Robert Williams, Craig Stecyk, Greg Escalante, Eric Swenson and Fausto Vitello founded Juxtapoz with the intent of fostering the art and culture of the underground. Providing an alternative voice and narrative as a counterpart to the dominant New York-centric discourse of contemporary art, it featured artists who straddled “high” and “low” culture. Aligning itself with the aesthetics of contemporary street culture, figurative art, California car culture, gig posters, tattoos, graphics, psychedelia and comics, the publication became a conduit and forum for an entirely new generation of artists who were latching on to the visual vernacular of powerfully populist themes. At a time when representational forms of art were widely disparaged by the reigning critical discourse of the art world, a discourse which championed hyper-conceptual and minimalist dogmas, Juxtapoz provided a mouth piece for the New Contemporary movement. Fluid rather than prescriptive, this movement has many monikers but is united by an ethos. The expressive possibilities afforded by figurative or representational work came to the fore, and a democratic sensibility was unleashed.

What once began as an alternative magazine is now the most widely disseminated art publication in the world. Predicated on the rejection of the artificial boundaries that consecrated “high”, Juxtapoz effectively broke down walls to allow young artists a chance at their own history. It is also an ideal that attests to the power of making accessible art about shared cultural experiences, identities and aesthetics.

The artists featured in this exhibition have been chosen based for their impact on the movement, and on how they themselves have been motivated by such an abundance of inspiration. With access to this imagery and community, new and multifaceted generations of artists continue to emerge from the ranks. Avenues made possible by Juxtapoz, through its wide variety of featured media and expressions, have shaped this aesthetic and preserves its trajectory as far as the imagination will allow.

Full lineup of participating artists in 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz:

This exhibition is sponsored in part by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery. The LAMAG is located within the beautiful Barnsdall Park at 4800 Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. To contact the gallery please call 323.644.6269. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday from Noon to 5PM. For special tours and school groups, please contact Marta Feinstein at met_marta@sbcglobal.net or to arrange special adult tours, please contact Gabe Cifarelli at Gabriel.cifarelli@gmail.com – visit LAMAG on the web at www.lamag.org

Living legend and major influence on the lowbrow and pop surrealist art movements, Margaret Keane, has just been added to the lineup of 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz! group show – What with Keane’s involvement in the already epic Juxtapoz group show and Robert Williams‘ headlining solo show SLANG Aesthetics! – the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery will be housing one of the most important shows the movements have seen yet!

Robert Williams: SLANG Aesthetics!and 20 Years Under the Influence of Juxtapoz